It's hard to let go
by GoofyGomez
Summary: Traipsing through the Forbidden Forest, Teddy Lupin finds a peculiar stone, which shows him his heart's desire.


"Do you really think this is a good idea?"

Victoire's voice trailed off as Teddy led her through yet another deserted corridor. Rays of silvery moonlight spilt from an open window on their left, bathing the floor in a pearly white hue. Their footsteps echoed off the high-ceilinged walls, bouncing back at them, threatening to give them away.

"Don't be so paranoid, Vee," said Teddy, amused. He smiled back at his girlfriend, his long, turquoise hair bobbing up and down as their traipsed through an oak door that led to an empty classroom. He led her in with a wink, leaving the door ajar so as to hear any approaching footsteps.

The room itself was rather small, Teddy noticed. It was not much larger than the Transfiguration classroom two floors down, yet it held an eerie atmosphere around it. The windows were tall and thin, their panes illuminated by the full moon behind closed curtains. A thick layer of dust covered some of the desks, yet the teacher's desk was pristine-looking. It was mahogany, with ornate legs and a small stack of parchments strewn carelessly across it.

Teddy swiped the papers away and turned to look at his girlfriend, Victoire Weasley. She was much shorter than he was, with long, waist-length silvery hair that flowed effortlessly down her back. Her eyes were a deep, dazzling blue that seemed to pierce through the seventh-year boy. Her cheeks were flushed under his gaze and she averted her eyes, tucking a strand of blond hair behind her right ear. _Merlin, she's beautiful_, Teddy thought with a smile.

Apparently, in his stupor, he had also said it out loud, for Victoire turned an even deeper shade of red to rival his father's hair. "Thanks," she said in a quiet whisper. She was used to such compliments from boys around school, Teddy knew, but he had a distinct feeling that she was only lost for words around him. "You look good too," she added as an afterthought, looking up into Teddy's soft, brown eyes.

Tonight, he was sporting his usual turquoise hair, his father's eyes, his mother's nose, and his godfather's jawline. It was commonplace around Hogwarts nowadays to not question when a seemingly new student entered a room, only to be revealed later on to be Teddy Lupin. His metamorphmagus abilities had developed from a young age, his godfather had told him, and he'd used them to his advantage multiple times in the past.

Even after years of knowing him, most of the teachers couldn't really tell who he was when Teddy was under some random student's guise. The only people who seemed to tell him apart, he had learned, were Professors McGonagall and Longbottom, who had known him since birth.

He stepped closer to her, raising a hand and brushing away another stray hair off her beautiful face. With a small smile on his face, he bent down and pressed his lips softly to hers, as though afraid he might break her. An explosion erupted in his brain, and it was just like the first time all over again. She pulled him closer to her by the collar of his robes, deepening the kiss. He could feel the smile forming on her lips beneath his.

They'd started dating only a few months earlier, and they had been the best months of Teddy's life. He had known her his entire life, played stupid children's games with her, yet he could hardly believe he was now her boyfriend. How many times had he stayed up late thinking about her last year, and now he had finally won her over.

Their jubilation, however, was short-lived.

Hard footsteps were heard from just outside the room, and Teddy heard the distinct purring of a cat. Whirling his head around to stare at the door, he and Victoire saw the glow of a lamp bobbing its way closer to their location.

"Maybe he'll walk past us," Victoire suggested under her breath, but Teddy knew better than to trust his luck. At that exact moment, the oak door swung open and Teddy wished he could have had Harry's invisibility cloak with him. Filch's grey eyes scanned the moonlit room until they landed on the couple by the largest window, their cheeks flushed and pupils dilated. Filch's smile was crooked and sinister.

"Well, well, well," he said in a croaky voice. "Who do we have here? Little Weasley girl and the Lupin boy, that it?"

Teddy said nothing, choosing instead to stare defiantly at the old man. He'd had his fair share of detentions from the old caretaker, and he couldn't remember a time when he'd been afraid of the man.

"I think that will be another night's detention, Lupin," Filch croaked. "You too, missy, you ain't getting away that easily."

The following day, Teddy and Victoire were sitting at the library, huddled over their respective homework assignments, when James Sirius Potter came bustling in. Mrs Pince raised an accusatory finger at him and hissed, "No running in the library, young man."

James paid her no mind and stood beside Teddy and Victoire with two small pieces of parchment in his right hand. He wore a sly grin on his round face, his auburn hair sticking in every direction, much like his father's did. He had started his first year this past September, yet his robes were already dishevelled and dirty in places. Teddy wondered what his grandma Molly thought of this.

"What's up?" Teddy asked, barely looking up from his Charms essay.

"Aunt Min – I mean, Professor McGonagall gave me this and told me to hand it over to you guys," he said, blushing at his own mistake. He handed them each a piece of parchment

Teddy took it warily and groaned. Victoire did the same.

"Saturday night with Slughorn?" she exclaimed, receiving another warning look from Mrs Pince. "Sounds like a treat," she said bitterly.

Teddy rolled his eyes, putting down his quill. "It probably will be," he said. "You know how much he loves you. He'll probably do all the work while you tell him stories about your parents or Harry. He loves those."

"You know, I just might use that," Victoire said sheepishly, smiling up at him.

"What did you get?" James asked timidly, peering over the parchment in Teddy's hand.

"Little excursion into the forest with Hagrid," he said. "That'll be fun."

"Oh, how lucky," James exclaimed, keeping his voice low so he wouldn't get thrown out. "My dad told me a little about all the cool stuff in there. He says there were rumoured to be vampires in there at some point."

"With the amount of times he went in there, I don't think he believed them himself," Teddy informed the boy. "I'll probably just have to help Hagrid with some wounded animal or other."

Victoire's face paled, making her blue eyes seem to pop out. "You really think so?"

"Dunno, I'll have to go and find out," Teddy said, shrugging. "It's tonight."

James screwed up his nose, apparently deep in thought. "Has my dad ever told you any stories about the forest?"

"Why do you ask?" Teddy replied, raising a curious eyebrow.

"He's only ever told me about those rumours or the time that Anglia car went in there," James said, looking down at the table. "But I think he doesn't want to tell me about the really bad stuff. Probably thinks I won't be able to handle it."

Teddy thought about it for a moment, remembering the time Harry had told him about the giant spiders chasing him and Ron out of the forest. Indeed, this did seem like a father-son discussion, so he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, kid," he said in an apologetic tone. "We don't talk much about that."

"Uncle Charlie told me about the time they brought in dragons for the Triwizard Tournament. They kept them there until mum, Harry, and the other two fought them," Victoire piped in.

"Cedric and Krum," Teddy offered.

"Yeah, them."

"Yeah, but those were there only for the tournament," James complained as if the fact that he wasn't going in the forest was a personal offence. He turned to Teddy. "Well, let me know if you find anything cool in there."

"Will do," Teddy promised with a small smile, watching the young boy he considered his brother bound his way out of the library.

He remembered his promise to James that night as he walked over the moonlit ground to Hagrid's hut. Rapping twice on the door, he stepped back and saw Hagrid's enormous form appear in front of him, his tangled beard showing hints of grey and his beady eyes fixed on the boy.

"Alrigh' there, Teddy?" Hagrid boomed, a smile on his face. _This wouldn't be that bad, _Teddy thought.

"Hagrid!" he said, a little too enthusiastically. "I'm sorry I haven't visited in some time. NEWTs and all, you know?"

"Ah, good man. Best keep to yer studies. No need to worry about me," Hagrid said, nodding. "Ready to go?"

Teddy cast a sideways glance at the forest and nodded slowly. As they began to walk toward the edge, he heard Hagrid chuckle and turned to the man. "What's so funny?"

"You remind me of little 'arry in his first year," Hagrid said fondly. "First detention he ever got was with me. We went right in there." He pointed at a spot a few yards away.

"You went into the forest when he was eleven?" Teddy asked, raising his eyebrows.

"He was with me, it was nuthin'." Hagrid waved an enormous hand in the air dismissively, though Teddy could tell his massive shoulders had tensed slightly.

They walked silently the rest of the way. A few owls hooted overhead, and the fluttering of their wings was the only sound Teddy could hear. The thick trees loomed ever closer, almost pitch black against the starry night sky. Even though he didn't really want to believe those rumours James had mentioned, Teddy's hair changed to jet black as he approached, the better to be masked.

Hagrid gave him a small nod and heaved his trademark crossbow onto his massive shoulder, leading the way down the path. The November chill swept past them and he pulled his robes tighter around his body, cursing himself for not bringing an overcoat. It occurred to Teddy that he still didn't know what they were doing, and he said as much.

"I need some help tracking down some stray unicorns that ran off the other day," Hagrid said, stepping over a branch. "A couple o' fifth-years got carried away with 'em and they buckled."

"Why at night, though?" asked Teddy, trying and failing to sound brave.

"Easier to spot in the darkness."

"Right, right, silver body and all," Teddy said absently, looking around at the markings on the trees and ground. _Could there really be werewolves in here?_

He wasn't actually scared, he told himself. He'd been to the edge of the forest many times with his friends, but this time it was different. They were venturing deeper than he'd ever imagined. The trees were thickening rapidly, swallowing even the faintest ray of moonlight until they stood in pitch darkness. At one point, Hagrid raised a huge hand and stopped Teddy in his tracks.

"You mind if we split up from here? Cover more ground," Hagrid asked gently, looking down at him through his wiry black hair.

"Yeah, sure," Teddy said, with more confidence than he was experiencing.

"Run into any trouble, just shoot red sparks and I'll come running," the giant said, patting his crossbow.

Teddy nodded and drew his wand, muttering, "Lumos." He turned to the left and strayed off the path, leaving the relative safety of Hagrid's shadow, or lack thereof. His wand aloft, he examined the trees and ground around him, looking for any signs of disturbance. For all he knew, this could have been a previously unexplored part of the forest, though he doubted that was the case.

Several painfully silent minutes later, he tripped on a root, hitting his face on a low-hanging branch. He fell face-first onto the cold ground. His wand, which had flown from his hand, was casting an eerie glow onto a small clearing. It could not be bigger than a small car in size, yet the sudden absence of trees in this particular area was curious, he thought.

As he bent down to pick up his wand to examine the place further, a sudden gleam of light beside it caught his eye. Reflecting the wandlight was a small, black stone. He picked both his wand and the strange stone, examining it curiously.

It was pitch black, not unlike his current surroundings, with a strange symbol on it: a triangle with a circle and a straight line inside it. He noticed the stone was cracked just at where the vertical line stood and turned it around to inspect the rest of its surface. As a whole, it didn't look like anything other than a runic symbol he might have seen in Ancient Runes, but before he could delve further into his theory, a voice behind him spoke.

"Hello, son."

The sudden noise made him jump on the spot, his left hand clutching the stone with such ferocity that it hurt his palm. He whirled around on the spot and saw two figures standing side by side. The first one, the one who had spoken, was a tall man with brown hair and kind, brown eyes, so like his own. His clothes were shabby, and yet he looked as happy as Teddy had ever seen him.

The woman, a short witch with spiked, bubblegum pink hair, was smiling too. Her face was heart-shaped, and her eyes were filled to the brim with tears. Her nose, much like his own, was short and thin.

They both looked odd, he noticed. The sheen they gave off resembled that of the Hogwarts ghosts, yet they seemed more solid than the likes of Moaning Myrtle or Nearly-Headless Nick. They looked, in short, neither living nor alive. Neither flesh nor ghost.

Teddy felt he would soon join in on his mother's sobs, but a couple of words managed to escape his already open mouth.

"Mum?" he said feebly, looking at the woman. "Dad?"

"Is it really you?" he said tentatively, still not wanting, or daring, to believe his eyes.

"It is us, son," said Remus Lupin, and his hand found his wife's, who intertwined their fingers. "I can't believe how big you've gotten."

"We've missed you," his mother said, tears flowing freely from her eyes, "so much!"

He ran forward to them, extending his arms, but walked right through their outstretched arms. Disappointment welled in him, followed by inexplicable anger. How could he see his parents yet be unable to hold them? He turned and looked at their suddenly sullen faces, and knew they were thinking the same thing.

"I've missed you too," Teddy said in a small voice, looking into his father's face intently as if trying to memorize it even though they had countless pictures at his place. He had seen them before, even heard their voices, yet he'd never been able to talk to them. Never been able to hold them...

One time, when he'd asked Hermione about it, she'd looked solemnly at Harry and then at the small boy, shaking her head. "No spell can reawaken the dead, Teddy," she had told him, a pained expression on her face.

And yet, here they were, in the flesh, or close enough that it didn't matter.

"You've grown into such a handsome young man," Tonks said. She looked into his face, noticing the way his turquoise hair bobbed with the soft breeze. Teddy looked up and smiled, closing his eyes and concentrating hard.

His hair suddenly changed to jet black and his eyes to a bright green. This had been his favourite look growing up, his grandmother always told him. Remus gave a choked gasp and Tonks whooped.

"You're a metamorphmagus!" she exclaimed happily, fresh tears replacing the old. "I knew it! I knew you would be."

"Yeah, it's come in handy," he said cheekily, looking up at his father, who was about half a head taller than he was. Remus raised an eyebrow, feigning strictness.

"You haven't gotten yourself into a lot of trouble, have you?" his father asked, a hint of amusement in his tone, and Teddy shrugged.

"I'm in detention right now, so make of that what you will," he said, directing a quivering smile at Remus, who chuckled.

"I'm proud of you," Remus said, nodding in approval. "I know James and Sirius would have been ecstatic as well."

For a moment, he was confused as to why he was talking about James, and then it clicked. James had, quite clearly, been named after two of the Marauders, of which his father had been a part. The creators of the Marauders' Map, who had succeeded in becoming animagi at the age of fifteen to help their friend in need.

"Thanks, dad."

He still couldn't believe he was here, talking to them, hearing them laugh. And they were talking back, beaming and crying with him. _And they were proud of him_. How often he had heard Harry say those words to him in the last 17 years, he wondered. Yet this time, as the words come out of his father's mouth, his skin was crawling with goose pimples.

They stayed silent for some time, basking in each other's company. Teddy was wondering whether he ought to tell Hagrid about this unforeseen event but thought better of it. _Harry will know what to do,_ he thought. Despite how much he wanted to talk to his parents, he knew whatever could bring back dead people that Hermione didn't know of was bound to be extremely dark magic.

He knew, and yet he couldn't seem to let go of the stone. His eyes travelled from his father to his mother, who beamed at her son. She raised a wavering hand and drew it as close as she could to his cheek, making him shiver. They looked into each other's eyes for a long time, Remus looking lovingly from her side, and Teddy let out a choked sob.

Why was it so hard to let go now, he wondered. He had never met his parents, much less talked to them. He had had more experiences with Harry and his grandmother, yet he couldn't remember ever crying this much with them. It felt like a gaping hole had been patched up haphazardly, and he was afraid of reopening that wound, lest it never heal again.

He drew away from his mother, whose face fell. It cost him everything he had to say the next words. "Mum, Dad, I have to go."

"No, please don't go, son," she pleaded, her eyes glistening.

"We could stay here for however long you want," Remus said with a smile, "Talk about anything."

Every word was a stab in the heart as Teddy shook his head firmly. "I gotta go back to Hagrid, it's probably time to go back. I'll find some time to talk to you, though," he promised, nodding at his mother.

"No! Wait!" he heard Tonks say before he let go of the stone and both figures vanished from sight. As though they'd never been there. _They never had, _Teddy thought bitterly. Feeling an enormous weight dropping onto his shoulders, his knees gave way and he collapsed onto the floor. He let the tears flow freely now, falling onto the twig-strewn ground. The rustle of leaves overhead was the only sound aside from his sobs.

Raising his wand, he shot red sparks into the night sky to alert Hagrid of his position. He figured it would take a few minutes for him to arrive, so he relished in the relative silence of the woods.

He had seen his parents, actually seen them. And he'd talked to them. His father was proud of him, of Teddy. He couldn't get that voice out of his head. "_I'm proud of you._" He picked up the stone from the ground and pocketed it. Harry would know what to do...

His brief reverie was broken by large stomping footsteps from behind him and someone panting heavily.

"Teddy! Teddy!" Hagrid was yelling. "Wha' happened?"

"I'm okay," Teddy called back, furiously wiping the remaining tears from his face and rising to his feet. Seconds later, the gamekeeper appeared before him, holding his pink umbrella in one hand and his massive crossbow in the other. Hagrid took one look at Teddy and his face paled.

"Wha' happened?" he asked, a tinge of panic in his booming voice.

"Nothing, I just thought it would be time to get out of here," Teddy said, rather convincingly. "I didn't know how to find you."

"You scared me, Teddy," Hagrid said, lowering the weapon. "I'm glad yer okay. Well, it's been an hour already, let's get outta here."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

An hour later, Teddy clambered onto his bed and shut the drapes around his four-poster bed. He looked up at the canopy with drooping eyelids. He thought of the experience he'd just had; of his parents and their smiles and their tears. Had it all been a dream? Could he have just imagined them out of sheer longing? But if he had imagined it all, why now?

These and a million other questions flew through his mind as his conscience began to wane and his eyes finally closed, plunging him into a flurry of dreams filled with werewolves, black stones, and Hagrid's crossbow, all of which were connected somehow.

For the following week, Teddy kept the stone stowed safely in his trunk, willing himself not to fall into the temptation of using it again. Every night, he dreamt of the small object and the idea of seeing his parents again, to talk to them, to be near them.

A few weeks later, a letter arrived from Harry during breakfast. It contained the usual stuff: Harry's exciting promises to tell him of his adventures as Head Auror, Ginny's love, and a request to remind James to write back to them as soon as he could. As he relayed the message to the first year, he bounded off to the fifth year Gryffindors and sat beside Victoire, who kissed his cheek. Teddy noticed that some of the boys around him shot him dirty looks, and he looked smugly back.

"What's up?" Victoire said, cocking her head.

"Nothing much," he said, shrugging.

"I know when something's bothering you, Teddy," she reminded him. Her tone was neutral, yet her face held an unmistakable resemblance to her grandmother. "We basically grew up together, remember?"

Teddy sighed. He didn't think he was ready to confide in her about the stone, at least not until he'd spoken to Harry. Nodding, he said, "I've just been thinking of my parents lately."

He looked away, not trusting his eyes to remain dry at the thought. A second later, a hand soft as silk grazed his right hand. Victoire took hold of his fingers and intertwined them with her own.

"What have you been thinking about them?" she asked softly, still playing with his hand as though amused by it. Looking around, Teddy saw that no one was paying attention to them anymore.

"Just stuff," he said vaguely, shrugging. "I suddenly miss them a lot, you know? Even though I never met them. I'm probably just going crazy."

"I know what you mean," she said, nodding wisely. "Sometimes I miss Uncle Fred, even though he died before I was even born. It may be that you saw something that reminded you of them and it sparked the thoughts."

Teddy smiled at his girlfriend, wondering if she would even believe her if he told her the truth. For now, he decided against it and agreed with her theory, which was technically not that far off. "That's probably it," he said confidently, kissing the top of Victoire's head. He heard a gagging noise from one of Victoire's friends and shot her a glare. All the same, he got up and started getting ready for Herbology with the Ravenclaws and his favourite teacher, Neville Longbottom.

That night, the nightmares came back in earnest. He was running through the Hogwarts hallways, alone. The walls were crumbling around him, rubble bombarding him from above, and screams echoed off the high-ceilinged walls. He didn't stop, couldn't stop. Bodies were strewn on the floor around him, yet he dared not look into their faces. How could he be here? He had barely been a baby when the Battle happened...

As he turned a corner, he froze in his tracks, the muscles in his face contracting. His parents duelled back to back, dancing around each other with ease, almost playfully. As Tonks Stunned a Death Eater, Remus shot a Full Body-Bind Curse at another. Teddy watched, transfixed, unable to move a muscle, for he knew what came next. He tried screaming at them, warning them, but his voice came out as a whisper, barely audible over the crumbling ceiling and shouting fighters.

It happened almost instantaneously. A flash of green from somewhere to their left streaked through the room, hitting Remus square in the chest. As his father fell to the ground with a sickening thud, Teddy watched as his mother rounded and roared in rage, pointing his wand at a stocky man who wore a malicious grin on his face. But the man had already raised his own and was uttering the fateful words.

"STOP!" bellowed Teddy, and this time, miraculously, it worked. The scene dissolved into white mist and he was plunged into darkness, not unlike the one that had enveloped him in the forest.

He shot up in his bed, clutching the sheets so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Cold beads of sweat clung to his forehead and hair, and his breathing was coming out in heavy pants. Pulling open the drapes and walking over to the bathroom, he wondered how he hadn't woken anyone up.

The man staring back at him from the mirror was a stranger to him, or so it felt. His usually hazel eyes were a deep black, his pupils dilated and bloodshot. His hair, always so extravagant in its Turquoise colour, had turned a dull shade of brown. Frowning, closed his eyes shut and concentrated.

Nothing happened.

His hair remained brown and his eyes, though less tearstained, still held that dead look in them, like a candle had been put out from behind them. Sighing deeply, he turned on the spot and walked into the dormitory towards his trunk. He rummaged through it for a moment before extracting a small black stone with a large crack down the middle.

Berating himself internally yet unable to stop himself, he walked down the stairs and into the Hufflepuff common room. It was a beautifully decorated circular room with a large number of sofas for people to lounge in after a hard day's work. A small fire still crackled in the hearth, giving off enough warmth for the early December chill to stay at bay. The embers had begun to wane, yet the light was enough for Teddy to traverse the room with ease.

He sat on one of the loveseats and looked down at his watch; a gift from his godfather for his seventeenth birthday. _Three o'clock_. Checking that the coast was clear, he retrieved the stone from his pocket and stared at it, the strange triangular symbol mocking him. Closing his eyes, he turned it in his hand. He didn't know why he knew it would work that way, but he knew it had worked by the sound of muffled footsteps and the rustle of drapes to his left.

When he opened his eyes, he was once again facing the tall man in the shabby clothes and the short woman with bright pink hair. They sat down on the couch opposite him, and Teddy noticed how they seemed to hover inches above the soft material.

"Mum, Dad," he whispered, his lower lip trembling.

"You came back," his mother said proudly, reaching over and doing her best to place a spectral hand on his knee.

"I tried not to," he admitted, more to himself than to them. To his surprise, they didn't show any sign of shock. Remus and Tonks looked at each other knowingly and then at their son.

"So," his father said, clapping his hands soundlessly, "where to begin?"

Teddy spent most of his nights talking to his parents after that. He told them stories of his years living with his grandmother. Tonks would usually tear up at the idea of her mother raising Teddy on her own, but the boy would assure her that she had more than enough help from the Potters.

Remus was thoroughly interested in the fact that Harry had married Ginny shortly after the war. Teddy had been the ring bearer, he reminisced with a smile. He realized that they rarely spoke about themselves, but he was so ecstatic to be able to speak to them, he didn't give it much thought.

Days blurred into weeks, and soon enough, Teddy was boarding the Hogwarts Express to spend Christmas at the Potters'. Even though he was thrilled to see his godfather and his cousins again, as he got off the train and greeted them, his thoughts still lingered on the small black stone stowed safely back in his trunk.

The following night, just after everyone had gone to bed following a bountiful dinner, courtesy of Kreacher, Teddy sneaked out of his room and into the sitting room on the ground floor. The house had once been much smaller, but new additions to the family had called for larger accommodations as time went on. All the same, money was not a problem in the Potter household.

As was usual, he checked that the coast was clear and sighed in relief. He sat down on the sofa and looked down at the stone in his hand, the strange rune staring back at him, resembling a triangular eye. Taking a deep breath, he turned it in his hand. Before he could hear the usual shuffle of feet hitting the carpet, someone coughed behind him, and an icy chill went down his spine that had nothing to do with the winter weather.

Teddy whirled around in his seat and stared up at his godfather, who was looking at the boy with a mixture of curiosity and amusement in his face. His bright green eyes pierced through Teddy's brown ones and Teddy felt himself shrinking under his godfather's gaze.

Without a word, Harry walked to the opposite couch and sat down slowly, limping slightly from an injury he'd sustained in a raid that week. Both men looked at each other, each waiting for the other to speak. After a few minutes of silence, Teddy caved and said, "How'd you know I would be here?"

"What makes you think I did?" Harry asked with a level tone, scanning Teddy from head to toe, and Teddy had the strange sensation that he was x-raying him.

Nodding, Teddy pointed at the silvery cloak in Harry's hand. "If you hadn't, you wouldn't have hidden under that and spooked the crap out of me."

Harry looked down at the cloak and chuckled softly, shaking his head. "You always were a bright one, Tedster."

"So how did you know?" Teddy asked again, frowning.

"Victoire," Harry said simply.

"Vee?"

"She sent me an owl about a week ago, mostly talking about you," Harry said, nodding. "She said you've been acting strange this past couple of weeks, that you haven't been eating much. She's barely seen you smile lately, which worried me most of all. She was just looking after you."

"So?" Teddy asked, rather defensively. "What does that have to do with me being here?"

"I decided to watch you carefully today, Teddy," Harry said calmly. "You were rather aloof all through dinner, glancing back at your watch every few seconds, even though time was going no faster. I noticed the symptoms of someone who would soon be out of bed immediately."

Taken aback, Teddy pursed his lips and decided to say nothing to that. The black stone was still clutched tightly in his right hand, and his left rested on his knee. The moon bathed the coffee table between them in a silver light that seemed to make the wood shimmer. Harry's face was clearly visible on the opposite side of it, looking at Teddy, the boy noticed, with no clear signs of disappointment.

"What's up, Teddy?" Harry said softly, leaning in and letting the moonlight shine on his face. The round glasses reflected most of it so his eyes seemed to glow against the darkness behind him. "Why are you sneaking around the house at two in the morning?"

Hesitant, Teddy's eyes drifted downwards to his closed fist and then back at Harry, who took note of that. Heaving a deep breath, Teddy's face contorted in a pained expression, his eyes welling suddenly.

"I – I wanted to see my parents," he said, his voice breaking as he fought to keep it steady. "I just wanted to see them and speak to them, and I knew none of you would understand."

Harry's eyebrows shot up so far up his forehead they were almost hidden in the tangled mess that was his hair. When he spoke, Teddy was surprised to hear hurt in his voice. "You thought _I _wouldn't understand?"

Teddy's eyes widened as he realized what he'd said. "That's not what I – I'm sorry, Harry."

Composing himself, Harry took a deep breath and nodded at Teddy's hand. "Mind telling me how you were planning on speaking to Tonks and Lupin?"

Reluctantly, Teddy released the grasp on the stone and opened his palm, showing the small object to Harry. Harry gazed down at it with wide eyes, shock replacing sadness so quickly that Teddy could scarcely believe those two emotions had been displayed three seconds apart.

"How did you...? Where did you...?" Harry stammered, looking from the stone to Teddy.

"I had detention with Hagrid in the forest," Teddy explained. "At one point, I tripped and found this lying on the floor."

"I thought it would be gone by now," Harry mumbled, mostly to himself. "Seventeen years..."

"Uh, what?" Teddy asked, furrowing his brows.

Harry seemed to remember that Teddy was in the room with him and shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "I just happen to know what that is."

Somehow, Teddy was not surprised, yet his curiosity was stronger than his pride. "I can see my parents with it," he said, a tinge of longing in his voice. "I can talk to them."

"I know, Tedster," Harry said solemnly. He extended his hand and Teddy got the hint, dropping the small stone in his godfather's palm.

"So what exactly is it?" Teddy asked eagerly, leaning in. "How can it bring them back when nothing else can?"

"That's because it doesn't," Harry said, almost bitterly. "You see, this is part of a set. Three objects depicted in a children's story from centuries ago. Last time I saw it was just after... just after your parents' deaths."

Teddy's eyes were wide as plates, and a thousand questions flew through his head, yet he remained silent, expectant. Harry had told him many stories of the war, which had grown a bit more gruesome as Teddy got older, but he had rarely spoken about the battle itself. Whatever Harry was about to tell him, Teddy knew, was costing him an enormous effort.

"It's called the resurrection stone," Harry continued. "Supposedly forged by death, it does exactly what its name implies. It brings people back from the dead."

"But I thought Hermione said nothing can bring people back," Teddy said eagerly, unable to contain himself.

"And she's quite right," Harry said, a little more harshly than he'd meant to. "This stone, whatever it does, only does half the job. The people that come back are merely a picture of their old self, an imprint. Close to a ghost, except they're more solid, are they not?" Teddy nodded.

Teddy saw Harry remove his glasses and wipe away the faintest trace of tears that had formed in his bright green eyes. Awed, as Teddy had rarely seen Harry cry, he leaned in further and waited patiently for Harry to compose himself.

"I used it, once," said Harry. "Just before I... Just before I defeated Voldemort. I saw my mum and dad, Sirius, and your dad."

A soft breeze was blowing through the half-open window. The red curtains billowed softly, as though an invisible hand were reaching through them. The grandfather clock on the other side of the room marked three o'clock, its soft chiming thunderous against the stillness of the air.

"They told me how brave I'd been, how noble. But they didn't sound like they had in life. I realised that soon after the war. You see, they urged me towards death. They were proud that I was giving up my life when all evidence showed that they should have been horrified."

Teddy decided not to comment on what Harry had just revealed to him, but made a mental note of it. _Harry had tried to give up his life? _As much as he hated the thought, it did sound like something he would do...

"The stone is a powerful and dangerous thing, Teddy," Harry said suddenly, after a few seconds of silence. "It can drive people mad, to see their loved ones yet to be unable to join them. I know just how much you must miss Remus and Tonks, I really do."

Another pang of guilt coursed through Teddy as he thought of his earlier comment, and he grimaced.

"But they are gone, just as my parents and Sirius are gone. No spell, potion or stone can reawaken the dead, Teddy. One day, when we are gone, we'll get to see them again. But today, you are alive. Alive and surrounded by a family that loves you, who wants nothing but the best for you from the moment you were born."

Tears were running down both men's faces, but neither made a move to wipe them away. Teddy thought of the conversations he'd had with his parents over the past few weeks, about how foolish he'd been.

Harry's free hand found Teddy's knee and squeezed it fondly, looking into Teddy's eyes. They remained silent for a while, the stone's presence lingering between them like a disease. After a few minutes, Teddy closed his eyes and nodded, smiling at his godfather, who returned the gesture.

"Dreams and fantasies make us who we are, Teddy," Harry said, nodding. "But, as a wise man once told me, it does not do to dwell on dreams, and forget to live."

Silence. It was deafening after this conversation, yet Teddy was somehow afraid to break it. More questions flooded into his head, all of them fighting for precedence. Instead, he chose not to pester Harry further.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Teddy said, looking away. "I should have told you about it as soon as I found it."

"I'm not mad," Harry told him calmly. "It's understandable to seek the counsel of our loved ones, however distant they may be. I'll keep this safely hidden from now on if you don't mind," he added as an afterthought, waving the small stone in his hand, and Teddy agreed.

"But," Harry said as he stood up, Teddy following his lead. "Next time you find an extremely dark and powerful object that may try and kill you, come to me first."

Teddy chuckled and walked with Harry towards the entrance to the kitchen. "Will do, Harry."


End file.
